That defence system in the spheres seems really poor, doesn't it? I mean, great big mechanical arms that grab people? Surely some sort of energy weapon on a swivel mount would be better, or fill the sphere with poison gas or something. And if that was some sort of repair machine with a secondary defence function - well, if the builders think the spheres need defending then why not put in a decent defence system as well?

Since when do Xindi have transporter technology? They have ALWAYS had to hard dock to get from ship to ship before, even when attacking Enterprise in "Rajin". Now they suddenly have transporters so they can kidnap Hoshi?

The basic premise of this arc is that the Sphere Builders were being defeated in the future, so they went back in time to get the Xindi to attack Earth before the Federation was created. So the Sphere Builders have time travel, obviously. So you have to wonder, why pick this particular time for their attack? The NX-01 is the only ship Earth had with any hope of stopping them, yes? But if they put this whole plan into operation ten years earlier, the NX-01 wouldn't exist and Earth wouldn't have any defence at all. It's almost like they wanted to give Earth a sporting chance to ruin all their plans or something.

Great Moment :

The battle at the end, with Hoshi being kidnapped.

Body Count :

Alas poor Degra... I was hoping he would survive, but I guess not.

Factoid :

We finally get a name for the Xindi Reptilian commander in this episode - he's called Commander Dolim.

Plotline

T'Pol and Reed lead a mission into one of the Spheres to try and obtain more evidence that the Xindi's allies built them. Meanwhile Archer and Hoshi finally meet the Xindi ruling council to try and convince them that Humans are not their enemy. Fearing that Archer will succeed, the builders urge the Reptilians and Insectoids to strike Earth on their own.

Analysis

Could they possible have telegraphed the death of the MACO any more? "Hey, we're going to go investigate the inside of a sphere. Let's take Reed, Hoshi and, hmm, let's see... is Corporal Deadman available?"

A fairly solid episode all in all, back on track after the diversion of the last episode.